Fish kill continues on Neuse River

By Bill HandSun Journal Staff

Tuesday

Oct 8, 2013 at 11:20 AM

Fish in the Neuse River have been dying for two and a half weeks now, according to estimates.

State Water Quality officer Bert Simons estimated that fish in the Neuse River have been dying for two and a half weeks now, while Coastal Carolina River Watch’s Rick Dove says he’s been fielding calls since at least Oct. 2, when they started washing up at Carolina Pines.

As of Sunday, thousands of dead menhaden were washing up along New Bern’s shores while the strong odor of their rotting carcasses could be smelled downtown. The same thing is happening along the Pamlico River, Simons said, and it’s a kill that residents can expect to see continue for at least another two weeks.

“The fish kill is just going on day after day,” Dove said. As to the size of the kill, he said, “Nobody’s out there doing a count that I know of,” but based on his experience, Dove is willing to guess that “we’re in the millions at this point. Quite possibly the tens of millions.”

Fish that are still alive “are in their death spirals,” Dove said. “You can see them everywhere.”

It is the third fish kill in four months, following on the heels of kills first reported on July 10 and Aug. 11. Dove described these kills as “moderate” in size.

The last major fish kill, in which about 200 million fish were killed, began just over a year ago on Oct. 2, 2012. That kill, Dove pointed out, took 30 days, and he expects the current one to follow a similar pattern.

Neuse Riverkeeper Lauren Wargo agreed.

“Dead fish will only float for about 48 hours, so what you see out there have just died,” she said. Wargo also described schools of fish swimming with open sores and added that the bottom of the river is littered with dead fish that have sunk.

Tests to determine the cause of the kills have been slowed by the federal government’s shutdown —the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Lab in Morehead City that organizations such as the Neuse Riverkeepers usually use to test samples is closed.

Simons, who said his fellow Water Quality officials are in the process of testing both water and fish samples, believes the problem culprit is a water mold called athanomyces invadans. The mold seems especially fond of brackish water and menhaden.

“It’s historically been implicated in fish kills in North Carolina in the past,” he said. “What it is, is a spore, and it infects the fish. The fish gets infected with a fungus and develops an ulcer. It ultimately leads to tissue necrosis.”

Simons did not speculate on what caused the mold to come around, other than to mention that “they say rain events do it, and it happens more in cooler temperatures.”

He said the state Division of Water Quality does not believe oxygen levels had anything to do with these kills, and added that “I’m not going to speculate” on the possibility of nitrates or “human impact” had anything to do with the kills.

Wargo seemed to disagree, stating that oxygen depletion probably worked with the spore to kill the fish. The open sores caused by the spores weaken the fish, she said, while the poor oxygen levels finish them off.

Oxygen levels in rivers are lowered when excess nitrates enter the estuaries, usually from the Goldsboro area on down, she explained. She said the nutrients are caused by a number of sources: “agriculture, livestock growers, waste, residential fertilizer.”

The nitrates feed algae and numerous plants whose rapid growth quickly eats up the oxygen in the water that fish need to survive.

“As an example,” she said, “The creeks by Hatteras Yachts, they’re clogged with vegetation and algae… when the wind blows, it kind of blows water out of the creek, and that water can be extremely low in oxygen.

“I’ve heard from some people that this looks very similar to what happened last year. We’re definitely keeping an eye on it and keeping the public aware.”

Dove has no doubt that at least part of the growing fish kill can be tracked to nitrates and other manmade causes. He pointed out that the state reported to the EPA that the Neuse estuary was “impaired” for aquatic life in 2010.

The current kill covers a wide area that Simons described as going from a little above New Bern to at least the Minnesott Beach ferry on the Neuse, and from the city of Washington to Pamlico Point on the Pamlico River.

While Wargo said “it could be worse —much worse,” Dove wonders if the kill is small because there aren’t as many menhaden left in the river to kill.

“I’ve been watching menhaden in this area for 40 years now,” he said. The schools he has seen in 2013 “are not the huge schools we typically see… The numbers I’ve seen this year are way down.”

Those lower numbers may be the result of so many fish kills over the past two or three years, he said.

While the spores are not known to cause problems for humans, both Wargo and Dove strongly advise people and pets not go into the water or touch the fish.

“The Division of Water Quality, the Department of Natural Resources, has a warning to all people that if they see dead or dying fish, that they are not to go into the river, or let their pets go in,” Dove said. “There’s a reason for that. When the fish decay, there’s a tremendous amount of bacteria that builds up in the water.”

Wargo put it more simply: “It’s just not a good practice to be swimming with dead fish.”

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